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not bale then!
Thatcher
I'd vote for Mo Farah, best in the world at his discipline for a decade.
And my 'minority' sport nomination, Alan Scotthorne
Joe Root or m/any of the current England cricket team - all excelling too.
Then there's the RU team as well - Owen Farrell especially.
The only one considered No1 worldwide is Froome
Froome's not "No1 worldwide", the only really big race he competes in is the Tour. When he goes for (and wins) two grand tours in the same year, or maybe (say) the Paris-Roubaix and Le Tour - then he'll be a true great.
My vote goes to Hamilton, I can't think of any more successful active Brit in sports. (While I'm sure Atherton's results are amazing, it's just too much of a minority sport for me!)
Lewis or the boat feller Ainslie.
radley Wiggins or Lizzie Armistead.Much as I'm a Hamilton Fan, F1 ain't what it used to be. The fastest drivers always get the best cars which're provided by the best teams, with the largest budgets.
F1 has ever been thus.
Richie McCoy.
Jess Ennis-Hill
Absolutely world class, but with a technical mastery of seven different events as well.
Others may be more dominant but in doing one thing generally. And the question was who's the best sports person, not the most successful.
+1AP McCoy
4000+ wins. Watch the Doc.
Surely the best is the most successful????
Rachel Atherton or Jade Jones. Jessica Ennis-Hill is a good shout.
Mrs Fettlin wouldn't let this thread go without mentioning Zara Phillips ne: Tindall.
Certainly not froome, never been ranked world no1, he's just a one trick pony with let's be honest questionable ethics at best.
Rachael Atherton as she's been destroying the competition!
[quote=wilburt ]motor racings not a proper sport.
ahem, it's more proper than anything else other than bullfighting or mountaineering
For me it's Farah - indisputably number one in a sport which has far more competitors from far more countries than any of the others mentioned. I like Ainslie, but it's not like that many people have ever tried competitive sailing.
Farah is a good shout. Motor racing's still not a proper sport though! 😉
Surely the best is the most successful????
No. Maybe if comparing the same sport (even then there's a different era perspective)
You could be head and shoulders above anyone else from a different sport in comparative terms and barely win a thing if for example you're from an era where someone else from another nation is dominant.
You can argue for example that murray would have had a dozen major tournament titles by now were it not for the fact he's from the same era as Federer and Djokavic and Nadal. How do you compare him against a different sport where you ARE the dominant individual and DO have a dozen world titles (say - for sake of argument and ignoring if it is a sport, Phil Taylor)? Taylor might not still in absolute terms be 'as good as' Murray but he's far more successful.
Thankfully, there isn't right and wrong, only opinions, otherwise we'd all sit in silence in the pub without the chance to debate these weighty topics.
And FWIW, much as i admire Phil Taylor for his microtoxophilicity, I'd far rather watch Jess Ennis.
Hamilton is hard to argue against as is Ben Ainsley, both set the standard.
I'm having difficulty with Froome and Farah, neither were born here or live here, I think you need at least one of those requirements. Good though as they are and thanks to them for representing GB!
As for Lewis Hamilton...really?
He's the only driver to have won a race in [b]every[/b] season he has competed in. And unless he moves to Manor (or Ferrari!) he could retire with that record.
People do tend to have a Marmite reaction to him though! 😀
I think Murray is a good shout.
Modern tennis is very gladatorial and he has to work fantastically hard to be where he is, and is extremely consistent at playing to his seeding.
It is just unfortunate that he is around at the same time as the phenominally talented Federer and the more consistent, but arguably less talented, Djoc.
Am I right in saying that LH is the only driver on the grid to win at least one race in every season he's competed in? And he's had some cack cars as well as some beauties.
Multiple poles a season also. It's this that marks him out as a great to me more than just the last couple of seasons.
Cricketers? I'd put Jimmy above Root.
Cav has to be on the list-very near the top. 3 stages already in a year he was pretty much written off and he's up against some top sprinters.
Right now a tie between Cav, Aaron Ramsey, Greg Rutherford, Andy Murray and Ben Ainsley.
It can't be Hmailton, as too much depends on having a decent car and it can't be Rachel Atherton, because only about 3 other people properly race womens DH.
Steve Cummings?
Aaron Ramsey, isn't even the best player in his team, never mind the country. The only thing he is likely to come first in is an unfortunate hair style competition.
Not sure I would cav in there - all he has to do is go fast on a bike for a short while - none of all the mental challenges that Murray faces during a match...
Aaron Ramsey
Eh? Hes not even the best footballer in wales.
Bale is probably as good shout as any though. Biggest sport in the world and hes arguably in the top 5 players.
Lewis is obviously great, but I can't have him at the top as clearly its not a level playing field when he competes.
1) Cav doesn't just have to go fast for a short while, if you've been near the front end of a road race you'll know it is a stressful place to be and he does it day in day out, with big consequences if it goes wrong.
2) Aaron Ramsey was a beast for Wales at the Euros' huge work rate, clever passing, linking defence and attack and generally great all round midfield play. It was no coincidence that Wales lost without him.
End of the day it's all subjective.
Not sure on Ben Ainsley at the moment, he was outstanding in dinghies, not sure he has really established himself enough in big boats yet to say he's outstanding.
AP McCoy has retired.
Mo Farrah is a decent shout at the moment as is Greg Rutherford (although he never convinced he's going to win even when he's last jump left and in the lead). Andy Murray is making a pretty compelling case at the moment.
Only one way to find out, we need a new series of Superstars.
Somebody up there suggested Chris Froome targeting Paris-Roubaix...
WHAT?!
Somebody up there suggested Chris Froome targeting Paris-Roubaix
Right now, it's a terrible idea. But. He is a good time trialler, can handle a bike well and is quite tall so bulk him up a bit and he would go well I reckon. It's not as stupid an ideas as you may first think.
Aaron Ramsey was a beast for Wales at the Euros' huge work rate, clever passing, linking defence and attack and generally great all round midfield play. It was no coincidence that Wales lost without him.
Yep he was great at the euros, as were the entire team. But even if he was the best footballer in Britain, he is still far far behind the best in the world. You can't say the same about the others mentioned on this thread.
But all subjective as you say.
Tennis is a bit meh for me. It all smells of middle class advantage. To be top of a sport when it counts, where there are a huge number of people competing and to win in all sorts of ways puts Mo Farah at the top of the list for me. To patter out a last lap as quickly as he does, after fast races, and pushing the other guys to exhaustion. He's not head and shoulders better than the rest, nor is he out and out faster, but he wins.
He shows the ability to dig deep and put himself in a world of pain and suffering to do what he does.
And running must have more people partaking than any other sport in the world. Greg Rutherford has won some things, but how many people in this world do long jump? He's also not been dominating the summer meets this year or previously.
I'm going for Cav
When Lewis joined Merc they'd won one race in three years and everyone thought that he was mad. Best cars don't develop themselves, testing, test feedback, etc help alot.
Tpbiker do you actually follow F1 or just make top three Google hit comments?... 😉 Button won in a design unique double diffuser car. That was part of the reason the car was streets ahead until as the season went on other teams adapted their own versions and his lead eroded constantly from mid season onwards.
Hamo beat a top rated driver in his rookie year and is known as a real wheel to wheel racer.
All title winners win in the best car. You need that combo otherwise number2 drivers would win in the same machinery too.
To be top of a sport when it counts, where there are a huge number of people competing and to win in all sorts of ways puts Mo Farah at the top of the list for me.
tennis has the extreme physical exertion (remember when conners was taken off at the end of a match on a stretcher with drips attached), very high levels of skill, and a massive mental element.
Many of these other sports only have one or two of these factors compared, it seems to me.
Murray - Greatest British Player of all time ..
Froome is no one-trick pony but the tour de France is so big that if you're in with a shout of winning it you focus everything to do so, even over the classics as much as I hate to say that.
Even still, my vote is Jessica Ennis Hill, she is monstrously good as what she does
noltae - Member
Murray - Greatest British Player of all time ..
His Britishness was shining today. 🙂
Murray is not and has never been the greatest tennis payer of his generation. He ha sbeen hurt massively by the greatness of novak and rodger before him
Whoever our greatest sportsperson is its not the perennial runner up even though he is amazing at doing it. I mean no disrespect to his achievements whichare exceptional. However, they are dwarfed by federer and now Novak. This means he cannot be the greatest.
[quote=mitsumonkey ]I'm having difficulty with Froome and Farah, neither were born here or live here, I think you need at least one of those requirements. Good though as they are and thanks to them for representing GB!
You can't really compare those two from that perspective. Froome lived in southern Africa until he turned professional and I don't think has ever lived here - his only connection is his parents and it's a passport of convenience.
Farah moved here when he was 8 developed as an athlete here and lived here until he was an international athlete - only moving abroad in order to go to the best place to train, which is something plenty of British sports people do. Farah is definitely British - personally I don't really consider Froome to be.
Agree with aracer Mo is a British as can be[ or as British as Wiggo if you want another sports example] Froome its a flag of convenience and his family roots. I doubt he considers it home at all whereas Mo does consider here home.
If we're bringing back superstars then I'm going for Anthony Joshua. When they did the series just after the olympics, he was way better than everyone else. Even smashed Mo Farah and the Brownlees in a sprint.
I was going to say Joshua was coming up in the rails on McIlroy, Hamiltion and Murray. On reflection I would add Mo to the mix, as he excels in a sport that every man in the world can do and probably would do if they had the natural talent. So on that basis. It really only comes down to Mo and Joshua.
Pure natural talent that would shine without coaching.
Even smashed Mo Farah and the Brownlees in a sprint.
I'm not sure that's any claim to fame: Mo and the Brownlees are endurance athletes, not sprinters.